Rocky Boy gathers for Christmas celebration

Families throughout Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation braved the snow for a community Christmas celebration in the old Stone Child College gym on Agency Square Wednesday night.

The usually gaunt building was decorated with Christmas lights, several Christmas trees and various ornaments.

"We just want to have people come together in a clean, sober environment, so they feel safe to just mill around and visit," said Trina Wolf Chief, projects director at the Chippewa Cree Family Resource Center, which hosted the event.

Families lined up at a long row of tables, slowly moving forward as they conversed and were served their choice of chicken and rice soup, macaroni with beef or chili along with fried bread. They would then sit up in the bleachers to dine as children romped about.

Children got their pictures taken with Santa Claus,and were later able to pick out a toy from one of three plastic bins. To keep the children occupied, men and women at the White Sky Hope Center and other social agencies such as Chippewa-Cree TANF, the Rocky Boy Housing Authority hosted tables where they could design picture frames, glue materials onto styrofoam cups and make backpacks.

"A lot of our families, they struggle around the holidays and they can't afford to get all their kids something," said Wolf Chief. "This is the way to make sure all our kids get a gift."

In one corner, children took part in a cupcake walk. Participants would walk around in a circle of numbered dots as music played. The music would then abruptly stop and everyone would pause while standing on a number. A piece of paper would then be plucked from a small container and read out loud. The individual standing on the dot with that number would then win a small cupcake.

For the adults, there was an ugly sweater contest and door prizes awarded. At various junctures a caller would shout out the name of a winner who would then come up to claim prize.

Rose Saddler, one of the event's organizers said while they wanted children to have toys, their top priority was making sure people had basic household goods and other necessities.

“When we looked for the gifts and stuff, we really focused on stuff that people could use at home like dishes, the knives, blankets things like that will be used in the home,” Sadler said.

Before they left, each household received a plastic bag containing toliet paper, paper towels and any of a wide ride of bathroom goods such as toothpaste, soap and shampoo. Each household was also given a bag of candy and a stocking.

Sadler said some people had thanked her for the household bags, saying they had run out of those items at home.

Wolf Chief said this year, she and her co-workers started organizing the event later than usual, not sitting down for their first meeting to organize everything until Dec 11.

Still they managed to get donations of goods and money from various programs associated with Indian Health Services, Kmart and Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods among others.

The party also served as a way to alleviate holiday anxiety and for large families to get together.

“We’ve been really stressed out, and we’ve been waiting all week to come,” said Tina Small, who was there with her sister and her grandchildren. “My grandchildren are just excited, and they have had fun running from place to place.”

Attendance was down at this week's celebration. Sadler said that as of about 6 p.m, during the first hour of the gathering, just a little over 200 people had signed in. Saddler blamed this on the rough weather, with the streets still largely unplowed.

For those who made it however, Sadler said it can mean the difference between having and not having a Christmas.

“This one girl came up to me and she said ‘I didn’t have nothing for Christmas for my kids,’ so we gave her a bag of candy, gave her a stocking and we gave her a household bag too.”